Richard Thurston, TelecomTV (00:02):
We are here at the Ericsson OSS/BSS Summit in London, and I'm here with Robert Curran from Appledore Research. So Robert, you've been to the event before, how are you finding it?

Robert Curran, Appledore Research (00:13):
It's a very interesting event. I was here at the very first Ericsson combined OSS and BSS event that was in Budapest many, many years ago. So it's come on quite a lot since those days. Yeah, it's a fascinating event. I mean, there's a lot of customers represented here, which is good hearing a lot of firsthand stories of what people are actually doing as well as input from Ericsson and others. So yeah, it's a very interesting event. It's pretty open. People are happy to talk and chat, which is nice. And it's a little different than some of the other events, things like MWC and so on that are much larger, much more crazy and frenzied. This is more relaxed but very informative and quite open. So yeah, there's a great speaker program as well. So again, you're getting perspectives from really quite across the range of OSS and BSS, which is a huge area. So yeah, two full days, nine till six, certainly packing it in and yeah, keeping it going, so it's good.

Richard Thurston, TelecomTV (01:06):
Wonderful. So you look at OSS and BSS lot at Appledore Research. What's on the agenda for you when you're looking at this subject?

Robert Curran, Appledore Research (01:12):
Yeah, absolutely. At Appledore we really focus on the next generation. We refer to the term network automation software to try to distinguish from when cloud enters the picture, pretty much 10 plus years ago. That's when things really start to change and we're seeing the impact of that take time to work their way through. But understanding how telco's changing, how is the supplier landscape changing, how the priorities changing and what technology are people using and what sort of results are they seeing? OSS and BSS, I think in one of the sessions this morning, I think it was Jason Keane referenced the S in the middle there is support, and that's one of the things we definitely see changing. Instead of these systems being supporting, they're becoming much more enabling or driving what the business is trying to do. And that's something that telecom has talked about doing for a long time, but it's been challenged to do that for all kinds of reasons. And so at Appledore we really focus on how that is changing now, how the confluence of technologies is coming together that make real change actually possible really for the first time. I think certainly once in a generation. So that's our focus.

Richard Thurston, TelecomTV (02:12):
So Rob, you've recently been writing about the OSS/BSS evolution as you were touching on, and you have a report "OSS/BSS transformation - Road to agentic AI". Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

Robert Curran, Appledore Research (02:25):
Yeah, we were looking at how I say telcos are changing, how they're adopting new practices, new ideas. There are some things they can do themselves and some things that they rightly are looking for additional help on. The focus of the report is really trying to understand what are some of the core principles as we try to transform with the view to becoming more agentic in the future. And the idea with agentic AI is software that's actually thinking and doing. It's both of those things together. And so we try to look in understanding the key principles behind that, the architectural components behind that. Things like having a distributed cloud infrastructure, closed loop automation and orchestration using data at the center of all of this and understanding really the central role that data has to play as we try to get to more autonomous networks. And then ultimately agentic, which is where software is doing much more of the work of keeping networks up and running and keeping them delivering to customers.

(03:23):
That's really the focus. We also look a little more widely at what else this means. And one of the key things as we get to this more data-centric world is the nature of new collaborations and partnerships between companies who are experienced with different skill sets. Certainly in the case of Ericsson, and look at some of the hyperscaler partners they have that telecom knowledge on the one hand combined with the knowledge of data and analytics and AI on the other makes a very powerful combination. And that's really what we're seeing, a willingness by telcos, by suppliers to look at a wider ecosystem rather than just insisting on a must build it all here ourselves. And that's not only appropriate, but it's actually necessary because the speed at which the technology is developing means that you've got to run to keep up. And so that acceleration means why not learn from people who know how to do this stuff, why not learn from people who've been doing it for years, whether that's the telecom knowledge or whether that's the data knowledge. So that's what we try to look at in the report. Build a bit of a roadmap if you like. OSS and BSS transformation has been talked about for the last 20 years in one form or another. But now I think there's a really different tool set, different mindset available and accessible. That means telcos can make a generational change in what they're trying to achieve. So that's the purpose of the report. I hope people find it interesting and stimulating and give them a guide to how to step forward into this interesting future.

Richard Thurston, TelecomTV (04:49):
That sounds like a really interesting report. Thank you very much for joining us, Robert.

Robert Curran, Appledore Research (04:52):
Thank you.